Mesodyne Awarded an AFWERX Agility Prime Phase I STTR Contract
Mesodyne Inc. has been awarded an AFWERX Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract, in partnership with Argonne National Lab to refine their compact solid-state generator with 10 times the energy density of a lithium ion battery.
During their time at MIT's Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies, Mesodyne’s founders broke the world record for energy conversion efficiency in thermophotovoltaics, a process that converts fuel to heat to light to electricity via photovoltaics cells. Mesodyne's thermophotovoltaic portable power generator works by burning fuel to heat a photonic crystal thermal emitter to incandescence, leading to infrared radiation which drives specialized photovoltaic cells to generate electricity. Unlike internal combustion engines, the generator has no moving parts, makes no noise, can burn any fuel, is higher in efficiency as compared to similarly sized generators, and has similar performance to hydrogen fuel cells without the difficult supply chain problems of compressed hydrogen.
“We are thrilled to receive another award from AFWERX. The AFWERX STTR program has enabled us to make tremendous technological progress and to find government customers who have helped us refine our product to meet their critical needs” – Dr. Veronika Stelmakh, CEO and cofounder of Mesodyne.
About AGILITY PRIME
The Air Force recently launched Agility Prime, a non-traditional program seeking to accelerate the commercial market for advanced air mobility vehicles (i.e., "flying cars"). Leveraging unique testing resources and revenue generating government use cases for distributed logistics and disaster response, the government plans to mitigate current commercial market and regulatory risks. Agility Prime also aims to bring together industry, investor, and government communities to establish safety and security standards while accelerating commercialization of revolutionary technology. agilityprime.com
About the Small Business Technology Transfer Programs
The Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) is a program that expands funding opportunities in the federal innovation research and development (R&D) arena. Central to the program is expansion of the public/private sector partnership to include the joint venture opportunities for small businesses and nonprofit research institutions. The unique feature of the STTR program is the requirement for the small business to formally collaborate with a research institution in Phase I and Phase II. STTR's most important role is to bridge the gap between performance of basic science and commercialization of resulting innovations. The mission of the STTR program is to support scientific excellence and technological innovation through the investment of Federal research funds in critical American priorities to build a strong national economy. Once a small business is awarded a Phase I grant: Feasibility Study ($150,000), it becomes eligible to apply for the next Phase: Trial with the Air Force (between $500,000 and $1M for a typical Phase II)
About AFWERX
AFWERX serves as a pathway between Airmen and innovative ideas and technologies both inside and outside the Air Force. AFWERX supports the mission of making the Air Force more innovative by uncovering ideas and opportunities to improve the service, connecting ideas with legitimate solutions, and transitioning tools to the warfighter.
About Argonne National Lab
Argonne is a multidisciplinary science and engineering research center, where talented scientists and engineers work together to answer the biggest questions facing humanity, from how to obtain affordable clean energy to protecting ourselves and our environment. Ever since Argonne was born out of the University of Chicago’s work on the Manhattan Project in the 1940s, the goal has been to make an impact — from the atomic to the human to the global scale. The laboratory works in concert with universities, industry, and other national laboratories on questions and experiments too large for any one institution to do by itself. Through collaborations here and around the world, we strive to discover new ways to develop energy innovations through science, create novel materials molecule-by-molecule, and gain a deeper understanding of our planet, our climate, and the cosmos.